New Gambia leader takes oath of office abroad due to political crisis
Adama Barrow has been sworn in as the new president of The Gambia despite the incumbent Yahya Jammeh's refusal to step down.
Barrow was forced to take his oath of office at the Gambian embassy in neighbouring Senegal due to the deepening a political crisis.
"This is a day no Gambian will ever forget in a lifetime," he said in his inauguration speech immediately afterwards.
He also ordered the country's armed forces to remain in their barracks and called for "allegiance to the motherland."
The streets in Gambian capital, Banjul, have been empty today as West African troops prepare for possible military intervention to remove Jammeh by force if he refuses to leave of his own accord.
Barrow has been in Senegal for days because of concerns for his safety, and he did not even return to The Gambia this week to mourn his seven-year-old son who was killed in a dog attack.
Barrow, who was a former security guard at Argos in north London, won the presidential election in December last year.
But Jammeh, who first seized power in a bloodless coup in 1994, refused to accept the election result, citing irregularities in the vote.
The incumbent refused to step down by the transition date of January 19 despite the African Union urging him to facilitate a "peaceful" transfer of power.
Thousands of Gambians have fled the West African country, including some former cabinet members who resigned in recent days.
Hundreds of tourists, including many from Britain, were evacuated on special charter flights.
The UN Security Council was set to vote Thursday on a draft resolution endorsing the West African regional force's "all necessary measures" to remove Jammeh.
Senegal has deployed hundreds of soldiers to its shared border with Gambia. Nigeria has pre-positioned war planes and helicopters in Dakar, and sent a navy ship to the region.